The Software Quality Days are an annual conference on software quality and testing in the German-speaking world, running since 2009: for more than a decade in Vienna, later also in Munich. The program pairs practitioner talks with a scientific track whose papers are published by Springer. In 2024 the conference took place for the 15th time, with around 400 attendees expected and, for the first time, an additional online day.
Key Takeaways
- The Software Quality Days have run since 2009 and grown steadily each year to roughly 350 to almost 400 attendees, with the COVID-19 pandemic as the only interruption.
- A scientific track with submissions from around the world, published by Springer, sets the conference apart from every other testing conference in the German-speaking world.
- Longer breaks and a business speed dating slot are deliberate choices that put personal networking ahead of pure knowledge transfer.
- So many talks on AI were submitted that a full online track on artificial intelligence in quality assurance and testing now runs one day before the in-person conference.
- The conference alternates between Vienna and Munich because most attendees from outside Austria came from Germany, and the first Munich edition matched the usual attendance and drew more exhibitors than ever.
Why the Software Quality Days Stay In-Person
The Software Quality Days are built on the idea that a conference lives from meeting people, not from delivering content. If you need technical input on a narrow topic, you can find it on YouTube or similar platforms today. What you can’t find there is a conversation with people from your own field.
The conference has held on to that principle from the start. Even during the pandemic, when an online format was on the table, it stayed an in-person event. The reasoning: networking face to face carries different weight and has a different quality.
You can see this focus in the schedule. Breaks are deliberately longer than at many other conferences, which leaves room for conversations instead of a dash from one track to the next.
From Scattered Meetups to One Central Conference
The Software Quality Days grew out of a gap in the Austrian market. Around 2008 and 2009, associations and companies ran lots of small networking events, each with its own niche topic and 20 to 50 attendees. What was missing was a larger, central event with the depth of a real conference that brought several of those topics together.
Johannes Bergsmann, involved in many of those associations himself, launched the conference with a handful of partners. The first edition drew more than 200 attendees right away. It has run every year since 2009, and 2024 marked the 15th edition.
Growth since then has been moderate and organic, slowed only briefly by the pandemic. In early 2024 attendance stood at around 350, and the organizers expected just under 400 for the 2024 edition.
The Scientific Track Sets It Apart
The scientific track is what distinguishes the Software Quality Days from other conferences in the German-speaking world. From the beginning, the organizers have worked with universities and run at least one track of academic talks that go deep into their subject.
The academic partners are the University of Vienna and the University of Linz, plus the university of applied sciences in Munich since the conference started going there. These partners bring international research networks, and the call for papers for the scientific track is advertised worldwide. As a result, students travel in from all over the world.
Publication adds another quality signal: the proceedings appear with Springer, which only accepts high-quality papers. That raises the bar for academic submissions.
How the Call for Papers Works
The call for papers opens about six months before the spring conference, so around September and October. Speakers then have roughly six to eight weeks to submit.
Submissions follow two parallel routes. The practical track uses the regular submission process. The scientific track runs through the universities’ own submission system, which has to meet academic standards and asks for more content. A committee reviews the scientific papers.
An open call is part of the philosophy. Rather than only inviting well-known names, the organizers want a wide range of proposals and a real choice of talks. That choice is what keeps a conference alive.
Keynotes That End on a Personal Note
The Software Quality Days deliberately close with a keynote that has no technical focus. The idea is that attendees take home something beyond technical input, something of personal value.
The keynotes across the two days follow a pattern. Day one typically features a well-known speaker from the practitioner community, day two a scientific keynote given by a professor. The final slot is reserved for the personal impulse.
Past closing speakers have included cabaret artists, personal development coaches and motivational speakers. The format goes down well year after year because it gives attendees something for themselves at the end.
Networking by Design: Speed Dating and Longer Breaks
At the Software Quality Days, networking is planned, not left to chance. In the evening, a networking event with a buffet and drinks lets the day wind down.
On top of that comes business speed dating. It isn’t a separate track but a slot of a little over an hour. Every five to ten minutes, attendees move to the next table and start a conversation with someone new. One round yields eight to ten contacts, sometimes more.
The appetite for personal contact has grown since the pandemic. Anyone who wants to build a network gets a clear setting for it here, instead of rushing from talk to talk.
The Munich Experiment: Alternating Between Two Cities
Moving to Munich was a deliberate experiment, and it worked. The conference had been held in Vienna for more than a decade but drew more and more visitors from Germany. Exhibitors and attendees from Germany kept asking for an edition closer to home.
Together with a partner in Munich, the organizers gave it a try. The result: more exhibitors than ever before and attendance at the usual Vienna level. The logistics at the hotel ran smoothly from day one.
What started as a trial is now the plan. From here on, the conference alternates between Munich and Vienna.
An Online Day with a Dedicated AI Track
The 2024 edition added an online day for the first time, held the day before the in-person conference. The reason was practical: there were too many submissions to fit into two days on site. The venue was only booked for two days, so a third in-person day wasn’t an option.
The online day had two tracks. One was devoted entirely to artificial intelligence in quality assurance, testing and the development process. The number of AI submissions was strikingly high, and that is what led to a separate AI track.
It matches a wider pattern from practice: whatever a talk is about, the Q&A often drifts toward AI. The topic is on a lot of people’s minds.
“You can probably find technical content on YouTube or other platforms if you’re looking for something specific on a particular topic. That character of meeting in person and talking to each other, I only get at an in-person conference.”
(Johannes Bergsmann)
Where the Conference Is Heading
One open goal is the 500-attendee mark. With steady, moderate growth, that milestone is within reach.
The program rests on a solid base. The quality and number of submissions are right, and so is the range of speakers. That mix of an open call and careful selection is what has kept the conference going over the years.
The 2024 edition took place on April 24 and 25 in Vienna, preceded by the online day.
